How
To Kill: The Definitive History Of The Assassin.

Kris
Hollington

Kris Hollington’s How To Kill is, without
doubt, the definitive book on assassination. Between 1950 and 2000, over
4,000 assassinations were carried out - including 40 on heads of state.
Targets also include popes, politicians, presidents, prime ministers,
pop-stars, spin doctors, judges, businessmen, writers, revolutionaries,
actors, royals, generals and dictators, with bizarre weapons, such as
exploding teeth, being used to carry out deeds.

How To Kill is – its fair to say –
both eye-opening and eminently readable, with none of the dryness so
often associated with such studies. In Hollington’s hands, How
To Kill becomes less of a lecture and more an intriguing
account of what it is that drives people to kill for what they believe
in.

Hollington, who has written for The
Times and the BBC’s Panorama, has an astute and
well placed skill that drives home the messages like well aimed darts,
yet still allows the reader to draw one’s own conclusions. Never
is the book showy or the accounts bogged down with trivia. Instead,
it is a smooth and comfortable read that is – more or less –
jargon free, which adds to entertainment value of the work, immeasurably.

A fascinating study in True Crime, How
To Kill will leave the reader staggered at the lengths
people will go to strike at the heart of what they see as “evil”,
and shaking their heads at the thought that assassination and attempted
assassination is such an everyday occurrence.
8/10